This invention relates to golf clubheads, and, more particularly, to an iron-type golf clubhead with a back cavity.
There has been a trend in recent years in the golf club industry for irons to be made oversized with a large cavity-backed face for striking a golf ball. The thin striking plate which is formed between the front striking face and the back wall of the cavity has a point of least rigidity (POLR) where the least support occurs behind the face. This point will deflect the most when it impacts a golf ball, and we believe that impacting a golf ball at the point of least rigidity will impart the greatest velocity to the golf ball, resulting in maximum distance for the flight of the ball.
For oversized golf clubs, the point of least rigidity or POLR of the face tends to be offset from the center of the face, usually toward the high toe portion of the face. However, this high toe area of the face is generally not functional since it is not used to impact a golf ball. The high toe location of the POLR might be the reason, in part, why some golfers hit the ball farther off of a tee than off the fairway and why "flyers" are sometimes hit out of the rough. In both cases the ball is impacted higher on the face and closer to the POLR of the face.